Suspicious Intent
by CrazyKidBen
Summary: Takes place immediately after the events of 7.10: Bring On the Night.
1. Default Chapter

First Evil. Original Evil. Evil Beginning. None of them were returning any helpful results on Google, Yahoo, or Lycos. Dawn sighed and rested her head in her folded arms, the light from the computer monitor illuminating her. Footsteps from behind and Dawn jerked up.  
  
"How's the search going?" Buffy asked, arms crossed, but not in a menacing way, in more of a determined way.  
  
"Same as before, only now I'm more frustrated," Dawn said, hitting the back button to review what she had already found. A whole lot of nothing.  
  
"More frustrated?" Buffy asked, taking the chair at the dining room table next to her sister, "And why is that?"  
  
Dawn looked at Buffy and sighed, "Your pep talk. It made me go 'I can do this.' Now I'm the little engine that couldn't."  
  
"Oh, Dawnie, don't give yourself false guilt for this. You aren't the one that caused this, you're just trying to help stop it."  
  
"But if I can't help stop it then who can? I mean, we're all doing our parts, and my part is scrolling pages of useless information."  
  
"You know I would let you go patrolling if we didn't have this UberVamp to deal with. We all need to rest up before we face off against it again."  
  
"Rest up. That's funny since you've been all about the insomnia for the last few days," Dawn said, rolling her eyes.  
  
"Well, I realized that I still need to sleep. I mean, it just kind of came to me."  
  
"I'm just glad you got some sense knocked into you," Dawn said.  
  
"Thank you kindly," Buffy said, kissing Dawn on the forehead, "Now go to bed. You still have school tomorrow. After that whole shovel incident, we don't want Principal Wood wondering anything else about the Summers sisters."  
  
"And you're off tomorrow?" Dawn asked, shutting down the computer.  
  
"Yeah. Good thing, too, because I need time to heal."  
  
Dawn smiled and headed up the stairs, "Goodnight, Buffy."  
  
"Goodnight," Buffy said, staring off into space.  
  
"Honey, what did I tell you?"  
  
"I know, I just need to think this through. I'll rest as soon as I get a plan together for tomorrow."  
  
"Buffy, don't worry about tomorrow. Not right now. It will come when you get to it, and you'll take care of it just like you always do. For now worry about tonight. You should go on upstairs, you'll wake up with a kink in your neck sleeping on the table like that."  
  
Buffy looked intently at her mother, "But Mom, I'm not sleepin--"  
  
The Slayer sat up from her sleeping spot on the dining room table to see Molly standing in the doorway from the kitchen, "Buffy, I don't want to run, I promise I don't. Annabelle ran and, well, I don't want to run off. But I'm scared, Buffy."  
  
"Come here, Molly," Buffy said, pulling out the chair next to her where Dawn had been sitting. "As long as you're here with the rest of us things won't be as bad as they would be if you were alone."  
  
"Those crazy hooded chaps, they attacked your house before, didn't they?"  
  
"They did," said Buffy solemnly.  
  
"So what's keepin' 'em from coming back?" Molly asked, holding herself.  
  
"Nothing. They will come back if they really want to. But what they don't realize is that you and Kennedy are both ready for this. We're all here to help you and we've fought off those that worshipped evil before. I've even fought these Bringers before and I beat them. As long as we stay together, we'll be fine. That's why we need to get Spike back."  
  
"Spike? You mentioned him before, who is he?"  
  
"Long story, but to shorten it, he's a vampire with a soul."  
  
"Aye, but I thought the vampire with a soul was named Angel."  
  
"Well, he is. Angel has a soul, and Spike has a soul, but Spike also has a chip in his head that the government placed there to keep him from attacking humans."  
  
"Your government does all that?"  
  
"Only sometimes."  
  
"So where do you think this big evil is keeping your friend captive?" Molly asked.  
  
"That's what I hope to find out tomorrow."  
  
"Any ideas on how you'll find him?"  
  
"I'm not going to worry about that until tomorrow. For now, we should all just rest," Buffy said, getting up from her chair and starting up the stairs.  
  
"I'm just now getting used to this new time zone. It's all flipped around, very confusing," Molly said, also getting up and tailing Buffy on the staircase.  
  
"Yeah, I don't know how Giles does it," Buffy said, opening the door to her room, standing at the top of the stairs.  
  
"He is amazing," said Molly, opening Dawn's door, "It's almost like he's not even human."  
  
Molly goes into Dawn's room and Buffy goes into her room, moving away to reveal Giles standing at the bottom of the staircase. 


	2. Teaser

First Evil. Original Evil. Evil Beginning. None of them were returning any helpful results on Google, Yahoo, or Lycos. Dawn sighed and rested her head in her folded arms, the light from the computer monitor illuminating her. Footsteps from behind and Dawn jerked up.  
  
"How's the search going?" Buffy asked, arms crossed, but not in a menacing way, in more of a determined way.  
  
"Same as before, only now I'm more frustrated," Dawn said, hitting the back button to review what she had already found. A whole lot of nothing.  
  
"More frustrated?" Buffy asked, taking the chair at the dining room table next to her sister, "And why is that?"  
  
Dawn looked at Buffy and sighed, "Your pep talk. It made me go 'I can do this.' Now I'm the little engine that couldn't."  
  
"Oh, Dawnie, don't give yourself false guilt for this. You aren't the one that caused this, you're just trying to help stop it."  
  
"But if I can't help stop it then who can? I mean, we're all doing our parts, and my part is scrolling pages of useless information."  
  
"You know I would let you go patrolling if we didn't have this UberVamp to deal with. We all need to rest up before we face off against it again."  
  
"Rest up. That's funny since you've been all about the insomnia for the last few days," Dawn said, rolling her eyes.  
  
"Well, I realized that I still need to sleep. I mean, it just kind of came to me."  
  
"I'm just glad you got some sense knocked into you," Dawn said.  
  
"Thank you kindly," Buffy said, kissing Dawn on the forehead, "Now go to bed. You still have school tomorrow. After that whole shovel incident, we don't want Principal Wood wondering anything else about the Summers sisters."  
  
"And you're off tomorrow?" Dawn asked, shutting down the computer.  
  
"Yeah. Good thing, too, because I need time to heal."  
  
Dawn smiled and headed up the stairs, "Goodnight, Buffy."  
  
"Goodnight," Buffy said, staring off into space.  
  
"Honey, what did I tell you?"  
  
"I know, I just need to think this through. I'll rest as soon as I get a plan together for tomorrow."  
  
"Buffy, don't worry about tomorrow. Not right now. It will come when you get to it, and you'll take care of it just like you always do. For now worry about tonight. You should go on upstairs, you'll wake up with a kink in your neck sleeping on the table like that."  
  
Buffy looked intently at her mother, "But Mom, I'm not sleepin--"  
  
The Slayer sat up from her sleeping spot on the dining room table to see Molly standing in the doorway from the kitchen, "Buffy, I don't want to run, I promise I don't. Annabelle ran and, well, I don't want to run off. But I'm scared, Buffy."  
  
"Come here, Molly," Buffy said, pulling out the chair next to her where Dawn had been sitting. "As long as you're here with the rest of us things won't be as bad as they would be if you were alone."  
  
"Those crazy hooded chaps, they attacked your house before, didn't they?"  
  
"They did," said Buffy solemnly.  
  
"So what's keepin' 'em from coming back?" Molly asked, holding herself.  
  
"Nothing. They will come back if they really want to. But what they don't realize is that you and Kennedy are both ready for this. We're all here to help you and we've fought off those that worshipped evil before. I've even fought these Bringers before and I beat them. As long as we stay together, we'll be fine. That's why we need to get Spike back."  
  
"Spike? You mentioned him before, who is he?"  
  
"Long story, but to shorten it, he's a vampire with a soul."  
  
"Aye, but I thought the vampire with a soul was named Angel."  
  
"Well, he is. Angel has a soul, and Spike has a soul, but Spike also has a chip in his head that the government placed there to keep him from attacking humans."  
  
"Your government does all that?"  
  
"Only sometimes."  
  
"So where do you think this big evil is keeping your friend captive?" Molly asked.  
  
"That's what I hope to find out tomorrow."  
  
"Any ideas on how you'll find him?"  
  
"I'm not going to worry about that until tomorrow. For now, we should all just rest," Buffy said, getting up from her chair and starting up the stairs.  
  
"I'm just now getting used to this new time zone. It's all flipped around, very confusing," Molly said, also getting up and tailing Buffy on the staircase.  
  
"Yeah, I don't know how Giles does it," Buffy said, opening the door to her room, standing at the top of the stairs.  
  
"He is amazing," said Molly, opening Dawn's door, "It's almost like he's not even human."  
  
Molly goes into Dawn's room and Buffy goes into her room, moving away to reveal Giles standing at the bottom of the staircase. 


End file.
